The Soutar Career Centre at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management (McGill Desautels) plans recruiting events and helps students hone their interview skills, but did you know that they also play a critical role in the admissions process by providing feedback on non-typical applicants?

The week ended with a workshop on how to maintain your engagement with your startup and the right mindset to adopt, led by Prof. Nii Addy of the Desautels Faculty of Management here at McGill. Following this was Prof. Lisa Cohen, another outstanding professor at Desautels, who shared her expertise on building a great team and understanding team dynamics.

After a year of planning, over 150 start-up submissions, 137 pitches, and $117,000 in prizes, the 2016 McGill Dobson Cup has come to a close with four enthusiastic startups claiming a first place victory in four different tracks: Social Enterprise, Health Sciences, Small & Medium Enterprise, and Innovation Driven Enterprise.

“My biggest lesson was learning to think beyond my instincts and discovering tools to help guide me to making more informed decisions. As managers, our experience guides us but it needs to be channeled, challenged, and formalized. The EMBA program has provided me with a new toolset to frame my decisions and guide my business instincts.”

Going through the foyer to the ballroom, we bumped into regulars of this yearly Soirée: radio host Mitsou and her husband Iohann Martin. TV host and producer Eric Salvail, radio and TV host Isabelle Racicot with husband music executive Donald Robins. Also there, TV host and producer Herby Moreau. It wasn’t long before I got to catch up with Montreal notables Lynn and Andy Nulman, McGill professor Karl Moore, restaurateur Carlos Ferreira (Euro-chic in green pants). And, wanting to get some Just For Laughs exclusives, I cozied up to its COO, Bruce Hills: no dice.

Jochen Wirtz is pleased to describe himself as a best-selling writer. He has co-authored a textbook on services marketing that he not only uses as professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, but which has sold more than 700,000 copies.